“Diffused Religion” and “Institutional Religion”: Why Religion in Chinese Society is Classic?

杨庆堃所著的《中国社会中的宗教》是研究中国宗教的一本经典之作，但学界对其核心概念“混合宗教”（diffused religion）和“独立宗教”（institutional religion）存在诸多误解。这组概念脱胎于瓦哈的“合一性宗教”（identical religion）和“专一性宗教”(special religion)。在其中文著作《中国社会：从不变到巨变》中，杨庆堃把“diffused religion”译为“混合宗教”，把“institutional religion”译为“独立宗教”。然而，这一译法几乎被中文学界所忽略；与此同时，学界对“diffused religion”一词的中文译法不下十余种，而“institutional religion”则被统一译为“制度性宗教”。从杨氏本意来看，这或许是一种误译，许多误解也就由此产生。在杨氏的论述中，混合宗教与独立宗教之间不是“制度性”和“非制度性”的差异，也不是“有组织”和“无组织”的差异，而是“混合”与“独立”的差异。在厘清诸多误解的同时，本文也试图对《中国社会中的宗教》的经典性进行解读。

This article explores the origin, development and Chinese translation of two terms, “diffused religion” and “institutional religion”, proposed by C.K. Yang in his book Religion in Chinese Society. Influenced by Joachim Wach’s concepts “identical religion” and “special religion”, Yang first used “diffused religion” and “specialized religion” to analyze Chinese religion. Later, he replaced “specialized religion” with “institutional religion”. In the past decades, the two terms have been fully discussed in the Chinese academia, but there are many misunderstandings with regard to these terms. One of the factors contributing to the misunderstanding is that scholars mistranslated the terms. Although Yang himself had translated the terms into Chinese, but his version had been largely ignored. This article probes how mistranslation led to the misunderstandings towards Religion in Chinese Society, and why this book is classic in the field of religious studies in China.

卢云峰

本文系国家社会科学基金重点项目“台湾地区的宗教状况及其对中国大陆的启示”（13AZJ010）的阶段性成果。

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